Monday night means... squish!

Paging the little people support network!

Tonight was the first time I felt completely like I couldn't do much with a guy because he was simply too big and strong. He's a newish guy called Colin, and actually a really cool guy, but he's half a foot taller than me (not unusal) and his upper arms are roughly as far around as my thighs. Fun times!

Warmups were pretty standard again. And rushed, because the kids class ran overtime. Boo kids, boo! They're still entertaining to watch though.

Starting out with drilling the same side control escape. Colin hasn't seen it before, so I did it once or twice and then let him go for the rest of the time while trying to coach him through the movement, which is a good test for my ability to remember and explain stuff. He was doing them ok by the time we stopped.

More drilling. Side control escape to guard, then escape-your-own-guard. Same deal. Helping Colin out with escaping his own guard. Meh. Then we go with one minute rounds of escape your own guard. Started on my back. He pretty much just plants his hands on my shoulders and pins me in place. I wriggle around and try to use my legs to move him a bit. Open my guard up and get my feet on his hips, but even when I shove off I really can't move him much. Bummer.

Swap places, and he's trying to escape his guard. I'm having a whole lot of trouble taking this too seriously, because posturing up is a bad plan if you're actually trying to stay in there. The basic flow of this drill was him shoving me up with his arms, shoving me backwards with his legs, putting his feet on my chest and kicking me away. I'm nowhere near heavy enough to stop him doing that, but really why would I want to? I don't want to be in his guard, and if he's going to kick me away, I'm going to go AROUND his legs, or just straight backwards and stand up? Whatever.

One minute rounds of side control after that, which I wasn't particularly expecting to enjoy much, because I'm fairly sure that side control is just about the 'heaviest' position you can manage. Turns out this was probably the most I accomplished all night. Despite how heavy / strong he is, I seemed to be able to bridge to create space and got onto my side perfectly comfortably. Maintained the decent posture nearly the whole minute without actually managing to get back to guard. I jammed the little toe on my left foot during this round, but it didn't seem too bad.

On top of side control, and Colin can quite clearly throw me away if he wants, but he's a smart guy and wants to do his technique properly. Started out slow while he talked his way through it, but didn't let him actually get back to guard. Tried to flatten him out which worked briefly, then scooted to North-South when he tried to do it again. Nearly took his back, but lost my balance as a random scramble ensued. Reset but time ran out.

Brief break, then we get the demo of the Kimura from guard. Then I discover my knee is bleeding and stop a little more to patch that up. I have no idea when or how that happened, but it looks like a fingernail scratch to me. Owie. Practiced my Kimura a couple of times each side then let Colin go nuts on them. He got the hang of it fairly quickly, but seemed pretty gun-shy about actually bending my arm far enough.

Then drilling the same sweep as last week We give it a name this week. Apparently it's a sitting rollover sweep. Once again I only took a couple of goes at it before letting Colin do it the rest of the time.

Last up we finished with 1 minute rounds from guard, with the bottom guy starting with the Kimura grip. This was definitely a frustrating experience. I started with the attacking, but he pretty much just wrenched his arm out as he sat up, then planted his hands on my shoulders, from which position I couldn't break him back down at all. Scoop his arms off me? Nope, not even moving them. Gah. We re-set, and I bait like I want the Kimura, then try to sweep him as he sits up. Got some movement but then he pretty much just smashed me flat again. Gah.

Defending from in his guard didn't go particularly well either. Immediately tuck my arm in as tight as I can, then try to sit up a little. He tries to sweep me and I plant a foot backwards to block it until we're both pretty much upright, at which point he just muscled me over anyway. Doh. Re-set and he goes for the Kimura this time. Defended it for a little bit until he pried my arm loose at which point I really couldn't do much about it again. He was pretty reluctant to actually apply any pressure again, but I figured he had it and tapped so we could start over. One more sweep just as time got called. Gah.

I guess that's pretty predictable at this stage. He's probably at least 30kgs heavier than me, so it's not likely to ever be easy, and my technique isn't good enough to deal with that so far. Add in the fact that we're starting from set positions that don't really allow me much wriggle room and that results in me being frustrated for the night. I guess I should get used to it, because I'm pretty much always going to be the smaller guy. I'm pretty sure I managed to help him out plenty though, so I guess that's worth something.

I am absolutely covered in massive welts and bruises tonight, which hasn't happened pretty much since my first class. Also, my little toe is rather large and purple. Ow. I didn't think I jammed it that bad. Ice! Hopefully it'll be fine in the morning.

Gah.